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Category: Frivolity

Fun posts

In recent weeks, we have tried to find the ideal mate for two of Jane Austen’s characters, Elinor Dashwood and Colonel Brandon, both of Sense and Sensibility. (If you click on their names, you can still vote on who they should marry!)

Today: on to Pride and Prejudice! Mary Bennet is an earnest, studious girl clearly in need of a story of her own featuring a suitable hero (as several of you pointed out on last Thursday’s post). But what will her story be — and which hero???

How about Edward Ferrars? He’s another quiet reader, and Mary’s modest earthly ambitions surely wouldn’t mind Edward’s small income. He’s kind and sweet, too. Are they a perfect match? And with Marianne as a sister, would Mary learn to lighten up? (Or would Marianne just annoy her the way Lydia and Kitty did?)

Or would Colonel Brandon be more Mary’s style? (Yes, he is very old for her, but we know he likes fresh young things.) Mr. Bennet seems to have been a decent father to Jane and Lizzy, but I’ve always suspected he’d given up by the time Mary came along. So she may need a father figure — and Colonel Brandon is very dependable, and never cruel. He could be the father Mary never had, and the husband she never knew she wanted.

Or does Mary secretly have a thing for the caddish Wickham? In her heart does she wish that the scarlet-coated rascal would stop paying attention to her sisters and court her instead? Could Mary’s high-mindedness reform Wickham, while his love of pleasure would at the same time be opening her eyes to earthly delights?

Or does Mary need a very young, physical hero? Would she be a good match for the young Horatio Hornblower? He’s equally hard-working and earnest. Would her intellectual abilities improve his mind, as his experience in the world broadens hers? Then again, he’d be gone for long periods at sea! (But would she mind? She could catch up on her reading!)

Or does Mary really need a worldly rake to awaken her sleeping desires? How about Mr. Rochester? She does in some ways resemble Jane Eyre, so why not? Her primness and his brutal earthiness could be an exciting combination.

How about Tom Jones? He would bring youthful energy into Mary’s life. He’s a bit of a bad boy — with the emphasis on boy this time — but surely Mary Bennet could handle him. (She does have that stern schoolmistress thing going for her!) And who doesn’t love a rascal?

Or maybe Mary needs more excitement in her life! If she were married to the Scarlet Pimpernel, she’d have plenty! She’s reserved, so she’d be excellent at keeping secrets. What do you think?

Who would suit Mary best? Or would someone I haven’t mentioned be the best match for sober Mary Bennet?

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara Kingwww.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Award of Excellence Finalist!

Since today is shaping up to be a busy day, I’m re-posting my Mardi Gras info from last year! I hope you’re all having fabulous parties tonight…

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone! Last week I talked about the vampire bar I want to open, and I’ve decided that every year we will have a Mardi Gras party, with a jazz band, Hurricanes, king cake, and costumes. And everyone here is invited! In the meantime, here are a few fun Mardi Gras facts you can tell people at a party tonight…..

–The roots of Mardi Gras are in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was held in mid-February every year to honor the god of fertility. It seems there was much drinking, feasting, and wild sex…

–The phrase “Fat Tuesday” might also arise from this festival, signifying the fatted calf that was paraded and sacrificed to the fertility god

–The roots of Mardi Gras in the US are a bit murky. Some say the French explorer d’Iberville brought it to Louisiana in 1699, while others say the first Mardi Gras was celebrated by French soldiers in Mobile, Alabama in 1703 (it was already a big Carnival tradition in Europe, especially France and Venice). Wherever it started, by 1803 it was firmly entrenched as a New Orleans tradition

–The first parade in the US was in 1837, with a grand total of one float

–The beaded necklaces didn’t come into play until the 1880s

–The Mardi Gras colors are purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power)

–Everyone has to have a king cake for the holiday, with a little baby figure (Baby Jesus) baked in. Whoever finds the baby will have luck all year, and will have to bring the cake to next year’s party!

Here is a recipe for your very own king cake:

Ingredients

  • 3 (14 ounce) cans refrigerated sweet roll dough
  • 2 (12 fluid ounce) cans creamy vanilla ready-to-spread frosting
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 2 drops green food coloring
  • 2 drops yellow food coloring
  • 1 drop red food coloring
  • 1 drop blue food coloring
  • 1/2 cup multi-colored sprinkles

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking sheet.
  2. Open the cans of sweet roll dough and unroll the dough from each can into 3 strands. Working on a clean surface, place 3 dough strands side by side and gather them together to make one large strand. Fold this in half, and roll slightly to make a fat log. Repeat steps with the remaining dough. Place each log on the prepared baking sheet and shape to make a ring, overlapping the ends and pinching them together to make a complete circle. Pat the dough into shape as necessary to make the ring even in size all the way around. Cover loosely with foil.
  3. Bake in preheated oven until firm to the touch and golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes. Check often for doneness so the ring doesn’t overbake. Place on a wire rack and cool completely.
  4. Place the cake ring on a serving plate. Cut a slit along the inside of the ring and insert a small plastic baby, pushing it far enough into the cake to be hidden from view.
  5. Divide the frosting evenly between 4 bowls. Stir 1 tablespoon of milk into each bowl to thin the frosting. Use the frosting in one bowl to drizzle over the cooled cake. To the remaining three bowls of frosting, stir yellow food coloring into one and green into another. Stir the red and blue food colorings together with the frosting in a third bowl to make purple frosting. Drizzle the cake with yellow, green, and purple frostings in any desired pattern. Dust the cake with multi-colored sprinkles and decorate with beads, additional plastic babies, curly ribbon, and other festive trinkets.

And here are some Hurricane recipes to go with the cake!

For more information on the history of Mardi Gras, take a look here

What are your plans for the holiday???

Posted in Frivolity, Research | Tagged | 5 Replies

So this weekend there was a little awards show called The Oscars (you might have heard of it??). And as usual I stayed up far too late, eating too much chocolate and drinking wine because I just can’t give up until I see what took Best Picture. This year was good because I actually really enjoyed several of the movies (I adored The Artist, loved Midnight in Paris, admired Tree of Life, and thought The Descendants was pretty good…), and Jean DuJardin is my new French boyfriend.

I also loved many of the gowns! It seemed like an especially good fashion year…

Some of my favorites:


Michelle Williams

Natalie Portman (I wanted to steal this immediately!)

Gwyneth Paltrow (liked it better without the cape, but you know, yay for red carpet capes!)

Rooney Mara (no-one else could have pulled this off, but I love her weird, chilly style)


Penelope Cruz


Jessica Chastain (she is so beautiful and yet so iffy on the rc–I’m glad she pulled it off when it counted most!)

And I didn’t especially like Emma Stone’s dress (I was convinced I had seen her in something just like this before, but it turned out it was Nicole Kidman…), but she was by far the most entertaining thing in a very long evening (except for the Christopher Guest faux “Wizard of Oz” test group), and I just love her…


There wasn’t anyone I totally hated, but I do think Berenice Bejo could have done a lot better…


And what was up with Angelina Jolie and her crazy leg?? The dress was nice, though she was swimming in it, but I could not figure out what was with the weird posing…

I also found out I got my own award–though I don’t get a couture gown with it! The Shy Duchess won Cataromance’s Best Harlequin Historical of 2011…(See the list of winners here…)

Who were your favorite fashionistas at the Oscars this year? Who was your least favorite??

All right — over the past week we decided that, in a fight, Sean Bean’s Richard Sharpe could clobber Russell Crowe’s Jack Aubrey, Ciaran Hinds’s Captain Wentworth, and Ioan Gruffudd’s Horatio Hornblower. (Though there were a few random votes involving Hornblower and a bubble bath — not entirely sure what those meant.)

We voted unanimously that Judi Dench’s Lady Catherine De Bourgh could wipe the floor with Barbara Leigh Hunt’s Lady Catherine, break her in two like a twig, spread her on a crumpet and feed her to the pugs.

Opinions were divided on whether Duck-face Miss Bingley (a.k.a. Anna Chancellor) or Sleeveless Hussy Miss Bingley (a.k.a. Kelly Reilly) would win in a fair fight. Er, make that an unfair fight. Biting, scratching, and all sorts of cheating predicted, particularly from Sleeveless Hussy.

Today, we have a NEW SURVEY!

It’s called WHICH CAD WOULD WIN?,
or, THE CADS DUKE IT OUT

Here we have it: a boxing ring. Or a wrestling match. Or a fight to the death with toothpicks. Whatever takes your fancy.

In one corner we have Greg Wise’s Willoughby, from the Ang Lee Sense and Sensibility — healthy, charming, and able to ride a white horse.

In a second corner, we have Rupert Friend’s innocent-looking Wickham, from last year’s film of Pride and Prejudice. He’s tall, gorgeous, and has a sword. Maybe he knows how to use it!

In the third corner, we have Adrian Lukis’s Wickham, from the 1995 BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice. He’s a sly fellow, always smiling, and always up to something.

Who would YOU put your money on?

WHICH CAD WILL WIN???

Cara

Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Holt Medallion and Award of Excellence finalist!



Look at them up there, glaring! The Miss Bingleys definitely want to duke it out. They’re both fierce and cruel. They’ve both been educated by the best instructors. Who do YOU think would win in a fight? Would one win at boxing, and the other at wrestling, or would one wipe the floor with the other in any form of combat?

Or how about the Lady Catherines??? Which one of these would beat the other at mudwrestling? At boxing? At sumo wrestling?


Would they pull hair and bite??? Would they gouge each others’ eyes out?

Who would you wager your hard-earned money on?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Cara
Cara King, www.caraking.com
MY LADY GAMESTER — Holt Medallion Finalist!

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